Satellite-based communications systems are well represented in the prior art. By example, reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 5,303,286, which issued on Apr. 12, 1994 to one of the inventors of this patent application, and which is entitled "Wireless Telephone/Satellite Roaming System". Reference is also made to the numerous U.S. patents, foreign patents, and other publications that are of record in U.S. Pat. No. 5,303,286.
Low earth orbit satellite systems have been proposed for worldwide for mobile, cellular-like communications. These systems provide an ability to use low cost, hand-held communication devices, or user terminals, for communicating via satellite to parties in remote, rural, suburban and other environments.
As one example, user links to and from one or more satellites may operate on a relatively low frequency, such as a UHF signal. The user links are connected by the one or more satellites to ground station-originated feeder links that operate at a higher frequency, e.g., 3 GHz to 40 GHz or more. The feeder links are connected to a terrestrial gateway which allows the user to gain access to the public switched telephone network (PSTN), a private network, or some other terrestrial communications facility.
In general, if the feeder link frequency is below 7 GHz there is small potential for signal impairment. However, for frequencies above 7 GHz the effect of rain on the links to and from a satellite becomes increasingly significant. Research by NASA and others have quantified this rain effect, and have found the impairment effect to be more severe in what are termed `rain cells` that are distributed around the site of a satellite uplink transmitter operating above 7 GHz.
A further consideration in a wireless communication system is the control of transmission power. By example, individual user links may be power controlled by a central site, such as a base station, after link impairment information between the user terminal and the base station is exchanged. This technique is generally referred to as user terminal power control. A function of this power control is to mitigate fading caused by trees, buildings and other RF-impairing factors within the user link. These impairments have the characteristic of reducing the signal power level to a lower level. To compensate for the reduction in signal level, the user terminal can be commanded to increase its transmitted power. Correspondingly, the user terminal may be able to request that the central station transmit at a higher power level.
However, and in a satellite-based communication system that uses satellites as repeaters, an increase in transmitted power from the user terminal or from a ground station, such as a gateway, can result in increased power being required for the satellite repeater. In that satellite power is a primary resource to be provided to and partitioned between many users, any increase in the power consumption of the satellite is undesirable. Furthermore, and for battery-powered user terminals, an increase in transmission power can have a detrimental impact on the number and duration of calls that can be made before the battery is required to be recharged.
This problem is compounded if the feeder link itself becomes impaired, in that the effect will be a reduction in signal power in all associated user links. To compensate for the reduction in signal power, all user terminals may request the ground station to increase its output power, thereby significantly increasing the satellite power consumption.
It is therefore desirable to provide a power control function for a satellite-based communications system that overcomes these and other problems.